Chad Dawson Still Believes "Hopkins Wanted To Quit!"

By Ryan Burton

We welcomed former light heavyweight Champion Chad Dawson to the latest Edition of The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene.com's official audio show.

On April 28th in Atlantic City Dawson and Bernard Hopkins will square off in a rematch of their October fight that ended in a no-contest after Hopkins said that he couldn't continue after injuring his shoulder. Hopkins leaned on Dawson and Dawson retaliated by pushing Hopkins off of him causing him to hit the ground. At the time, Dawson accused Hopkins of faking the injury and said that he quit. 6 months have since passed and Dawson's feelings still haven't changed.

"Like I said before, I've been in the ring over 30 times and stared in the eyes of many fighters. I looked into Hopkins eyes and I saw he didn't want to fight and he wanted to quit," Dawson told The Boxing Lab.

The Connecticut native views their upcoming clash as a continuation of their first fight. He said that the critics who are picking Hopkins to win are giving him extra motivation.

"I want to go out on the 28th and pick it up like its the 3rd round. I want to silence all of the critics who say that he has a chance (to beat me). He's a veteran and he knows all of the tricks and he's never been knocked out. I'm not saying I'm going to knock him out but I'm going for him," Dawson explained.

Dawson also said that he has grown tired of Hopkins antics and feels that a lot of the fans have as well. The crafty veteran is a certain first ballot hall of famer but some of his tactics have been questioned.

"The way he carries on in the ring affects his legacy. We see what he did in my fight," Dawson stated. "He bought 5 or 6 minutes when he didn't even get hit low against Calzaghe plus he didn't hit him that hard. It was a tap. He's a dirty fighter and people realize that," he continued.

Send questions or comments to [email protected] Follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter and tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene's official audio on Tuesdays. The show is hosted by Ernie Gabion, Luis Sandoval and Ryan Burton.

[QUOTE=Boxingwizard;12018718]There was no x-ray exams, and after the fight he was able to move his shoulder when talking to Kellerman, and not even being in agonizing pain while talking to Kellerman. The whole thing was suspicious. And Hopkins is known…

[QUOTE=SekondzOut;12023481]Pascal put something on him EARLY and he fought his ass off....thats not really important though, what's REALLY confusing is that B.Hop arguably won the first round and history has told us that Ex needs a few rounds to figure…

Pascal put something on him EARLY and he fought his ass off....thats not really important though, what's REALLY confusing is that B.Hop arguably won the first round and history has told us that Ex needs a few rounds to figure…